Zesty Quinoa Bean Salad

Bright, fresh, and bursting with flavor, this Zesty Quinoa Bean Salad is a vibrant celebration of wholesome ingredients.

With fluffy quinoa, hearty black beans, sweet bell peppers, crisp red onion, juicy corn, and a tangy lime dressing, it’s the perfect dish to bring to potlucks, workplace gatherings, or to prep ahead for your weekly meals. Photos and blog posted updated 8/14/2025

One of the best things about this recipe is its versatility — enjoy it hot for a cozy comfort food vibe or serve it chilled for a refreshing, energizing salad. Either way, it’s a colorful crowd-pleaser you’ll find yourself making again and again. We like to serve it over a bed of spring mix or fresh spinach and take it with us on a day hike.

It’s such a beautiful salad as well – visually pleasing food is always a bonus! We even made a video to show you just how easy peasy this recipe is to make.

Watch the video to see how quickly and easily this recipe comes together.

I love make ahead salads like this that hold up well in the fridge over several days.

If you need a dish to take to a new mom or someone who just had surgery – this is a good one.

I like to take a cup or more of the Zesty Quinoa Bean Salad and add it to one of my daily Big Beautiful Chopped Salads for lunch. It keeps me full for hours and hours. It is so pretty too – I like pretty food. My little granddaughter Sweetpea likes to pick the corn out of my salad.

Tami Kramer Nutmeg Notebook

Nutmeg Notebook’s Zesty Quinoa Bean Salad

5 from 3 votes

Simple and delicious! The perfect recipe to take to pot lucks or make a batch for your work lunches and enjoy it all week long.

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Salad

• 2 cups quinoa – rinsed
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups black beans rinsed and drained
• 2 red bell peppers. diced
• 1 small red onion diced
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups corn – frozen thawed

Dressing

• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 3 tablespoons no salt added mustard
• Zest of 1-2 limes

Method

 

1. In an Instant pot electric pressure cooker add the rinsed and drained quinoa with 2 1/2 cups water. Put the lid on making sure the sealing vent is in the sealing position. Set time for 5 minutes at high pressure and let it come down using natural pressure release. When it is done, fluff with a fork.
2. Add the quinoa and the rest of the salad ingredients to a large bowl and stir until well combined.
3. In a measuring cup mix together the lime juice, mustard and lime zest. Pour over the prepared salad and stir until well combined. This can be eaten hot or cold. Refrigerate the leftovers. It can be reheated to serve it warm. Serve it cold over a bed of greens or over a Big Beautiful Chopped Salad.

Notes

Variations: If desired you can add some chili powder, ground cumin, salsa, diced jalapeno or the California Balsamic Vinegars like Sweet Heat, Blazin Habanero or Gilroy Garlic.

Tried this recipe?

Let us know how it was!

This can be eaten hot or cold. Refrigerate the leftovers. It can be reheated to serve it warm. Serve it cold over a bed of greens or over a Big Beautiful Chopped Salad.

Variations: If desired you can add some chili powder, ground cumin, salsa, diced jalapeno or the California Balsamic Vinegars like Sweet Heat, Blazin Habanero or Gilroy Garlic.

You might also like my California Quinoa Salad Recipe.

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We are also Holland Bowl Mill Affiliates. The 15 inch Holland Bowl Mill Cherry fruit bowl has a permanent home on our kitchen island. It’s beautiful and useful. The heart shaped bowl makes me happy – I love everything heart shaped! We use our 15 inch Beechwood bowl to chop our salads everyday. Eating a salad for one meal every day helped me lose weight and become a size 4. I still eat a salad for one meal a day but now it’s a Big Beautiful Chopped salad and it helps me stay a size 4! See the Chopped Salad Blog Post to find out how you can incorporate a chopped salad into your daily food plan and how you can get a free mezzaluna knife with your Holland Bowl order when you use our affiliate link as well as free engraving and free shipping.